Chris Hoke Press Conference Transcript Wednesday Super Bowl XLV

(on Mike Tomlin getting the credit he deserves)“I think the first couple of years; people had an excuse here, an excuse there, for why they didn’t want to give him any respect. The guy has proven that he is a winner. Three of his four years, he has taken us to the playoffs, and two of his four years, taking us to the Super Bowl, so you’ve got to give the guy credit.”

(on what makes Mike Tomlin effective)“He knows how to push buttons. He knows how to get us focused and get us going. He has a certain message for every week, and he pounds that message in every single day. I think he does a great job of it.”

(on being America’s team)“Dallas has the title. Here’s the thing, who has more Super Bowls? You’ve got to look at that. You’ve got to look at the success of the teams. Dallas is a good football team. That’s one thing you can’t take away from them. Looking back in the 70’s, when you look at the wins over the last decade, we’re up there; I think we’re at the top.”

(on being Pittsburgh’s team)“We’re Pittsburgh’s team though, right? We don’t want to take that away. I think that’s the whole story. America’s team, who isn’t America’s team? But, we’re Pittsburgh’s team. We represent Pittsburgh, not America.”

(on looking forward to getting back to practice)“It’s exciting to get back to work. We’re down here to play a game. Media is a part of it, but we’re ultimately here to play this game. It’s nice to get back to work, prepare, watch film and get into game mode.”

(on what Aaron Rodgers brings to the game)“Athleticism, quick decisions, quick throws… He’s a good quarterback and we need to make sure we get after him. We’ve got to hit him, make him feel uncomfortable in the pocket. He does a good job of making throws on the run too. We’ve got to keep him in the pocket and hit him a little bit.”

(on the Packer’s receivers)“They do a great job of breaking tackles and making a lot of long runs. We’ve got to tackle those guys. All their passes are 15-20 yards, and those guys break a lot of tackles for another 30, 40, 50 yards. We’ve got to make sure that we hit Aaron Rodgers and then get back and tackle those receivers.”

(on James Farrior)“He’s been in this league for so long. You know he’s going to go out there and ball out for you every single play. He’s not a guy that’s going to go out there and say a lot of gibberish. He’s going to say what needs to be said. He’s going to go out there and play and hit hard. That’s a guy you want to follow.”

(on style of James Farrior’s leadership or play)“I think it’s a little bit of both. The guy plays at a high level. He plays hard. He’s a guy you know you can follow. Sometimes, there are guys out there who talk a lot of stuff and you don’t want to follow the guy. On the field, he takes plays off and doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do – freelance a little bit. James does what he’s supposed to do for the defense and leads these guys, all of us, to victory.”

(on Ben Roethlisberger’s style)“The guy wins. It doesn’t matter what he does. It doesn’t matter if his stats are low. He always makes that key drive. He always makes that key play. Last week against the Jets, it was the play where he scrambles and hit Antonio Brown across the middle, coming out. He’s always making the big play and doing whatever he needs to do to win the game. Some of these guys have bigger stats and these guys are more flashy, but Ben always wins. He’s going to have a big win on Sunday, his third Super Bowl ring, and that puts him in an elite class.”

(on Rooney’s coaching hiring process)“They went out and got Coach Tomlin and brought him out from Minnesota. They go outside the box and brought in a young guy, a young guy who knows football and has a lot of energy. I think that doing that and being patient with their coaches. Not over-reacting by getting rid of him and bringing in a new guy in. I think it works to their success.”

(on Green Bay playing five wide receivers)“That’s a challenge. You’ve got to get more defensive backs out there. When you go five-wide, you’ve got to get rid of the ball quick, because we’re going to be coming after the quarterback. It makes for a quick, up-tempo game. When you’ve got five wides you’ve got to go man-to-man on those guys. You can’t zone it out as much. You’ve got to get to him and don’t let him take more time, because it’s hard to cover those guys for so long. You got to get after it, get upfield, make sure you’re pushing the pocket back, make sure to come off the edge, and getting after Aaron Rodgers.”

(on zone blitzing)“Zone blitzing is just coming in places where you don’t think we’re coming. Overloading the side, making people think you’re coming from one side and coming from the other. Dropping guys back in coverage that you think are blitzing. It’s a scheme that, if you don’t study it, if you don’t play against it, it’s hard to have success against it. We’ve got some personnel that really accelerate it and make it tougher for quarterbacks to see.”

(on message to the fans about the CBA)“Stay tuned. We’re working hard to get this thing done. The people that are in charge of it are working hard to get this thing done. We’re going to be ready to play when the time comes. To me, it’s out of my hands. I have nothing to do with it. I don’t have a gripe. I just want to play football.”

(on playing 18 games in a season)“You’ve seen how many injuries there was this year over 16 games. There were so many injuries, so many concussions, and going an extra two games in a season there could be more injuries. I would say it probably wouldn’t be smart to go 18 games. We’re players, we’re the soldiers in this thing, so we’re going to go out and do what we’re supposed to do.”

(on James Farrior’s pre-game speeches)“It’s just the attitude and the intensity. It doesn’t matter what he says, it’s how he says it. It’s his emotion, his passion for the game, his intensity to win the game, and his sense of urgency. A lot of times you don’t hear everything he’s saying, because he’s screaming and yelling, but the message I get is it’s time to go to work, let’s get ready to go to work.”